Friday, June 13, 2008

NNG CO., LTD is planning an open beta test of an online casual MMORPG, “Ghost Online” (http://ghost.gamengame.com/), developed by NNG CO., LTD. starting in July through a global service platform website, GameNGame(http://www.gamengame.com/).(Photo: Munsu JIN / marketing director)

A thriller and chivalrous action game, “Ghost Online” has been boasted with reliable game features and contents, being served for more than 2 years in Korea and in Taiwan. Now, NNG Co., Ltd. is ready to meet worldwide users through a GSP, based on such commercial successes.Specifically, in Taiwan, Ghost Online has become very popular with its unique characters such as ‘thriller’ and ‘chivalrous’, so that the game was even ranked higher than WoW (World of Warcraft) for 4-5 weeks. We have even received requests about the contents for leagues from local publishers in Japan and Thai, which have proved the success of Ghost Online in the worldwide market.

We need a different service strategy for the worldwide market compared to the Asian market, as GSPs are served on various base cities, like Tokyo, Singapore, LA, London, Frankfurt, and so forth, through which users all around world can enter to play.

Today, we interviewed an oversea marketing director of NNG Co. Ltd., Munsu JIN, for more information on Ghost Online and its GSP service strategies, as well as its future plans.

What is ‘Ghost Online’?Ghost Online is a thrilling and chivalrous action game. The background of this game is such that it was born to be very simple. One of our team mangers within the company loves something that can be called a ‘thriller’. He, inspired by a Japanese board game, focused on the ‘thriller’ aspect and insisted on it. That’s how we developed Ghost Online.Each country has its own ghost and you will find such various ghosts in Ghost Online. When a ghost in the game dies, you will get the spirit from it. A user will hunt these spirits and use them as material within the ‘enchant system’, where you will be able to create more powerful items.

Is there any other ‘interesting’ parts to Ghost Online?Other than a thriller, chivalrous will be another component to the game story within Ghost Online. Character design, game background and enchant system are composed of the ‘thriller’ part, and PvP system, movement skill, weapon, equipment, etc are composed of the ‘chivalrous’ part. Ghost Online features movement skills such as ‘walking in the air’ or ‘flying’ which can be found in chivalrous novels, or PvP system where a maximum of 40 rivals can fight each other.What are the future plans for ‘Ghost Online’ service using the Global Service Platform?Two technical tests have already been conducted through a GSP. We are now planning to have an open beta test run starting in July. 160 level contents have been developed for the Korean market, but as for the open beta test for the GSP, we will open 60 levels with 160 Korean contents, and will update it gradually over time.

Due to the 2D horizontal scroll, we are not allowed to open a map at once, but the operating teams in local areas are offering patch programs to meet the requirements within each area. We believe that there’s no conflict within the content’s updates.Game users who have been playing in GSP services are worried that their GSP accounts will be reset once a local service in each country begins. What can they do?Users enjoying the game through a GSP often experience such an issue with their accounts, as they are often reset and/or they lose their characters. To prevent this problem, we encourage users to register an additional account when registering a GSP account, by prompting a message box.

In that case, when a user plays a game in a local service later, the user can play the game with the same character they had within the GSP, using their second registered account. The reason that a user needs to register 2 accounts is because there can be converting issue due to the difference of formatting between the GSP account and the local account.

What are you planning for local service in each country?

Ghost Online has been served in 8 countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and U.S.A. Accordingly, localization is one of the important things we have yet to do. We have researched overseas market, and created maps and characters corresponding to them. Sometimes, we have received and implemented suggestions from other countries.

Leagues will open in Japan this year and we are planning the same for Thai, although much sooner as well. Taiwan requested maps for its own and that’s why NNG Co. Ltd’s graphic team have visited there and created maps. The starting point of the game in Korea is ‘Chungeumkwan’ which is more a Chinese style, so we will open a new starting point called ‘Hanyangsung’ in July or August to achieve a more Korean style.Also, we are considering developing new contents, convenient facilities, intern system, etc. for each country.

Finally, do you have any comments on worldwide users playing Ghost Online as well as a service schedule through a GSP?

We will start a closed beta test for 15 days starting from June 17 (Pacific Time) and begin an open beta test on July 8th. We are sure that the Ghost Online, a thriller and chivalrous action game, will give you more interesting thrills to get rid of the extreme heat in the summer. We ask that should you have any further questions on concerns on Ghost Online, to contact us freely.